Daniel Day-Lewis leads British acting hopes at the Oscars after he was nominated today for best actor in US historical drama Lincoln.

A win would make it a hat-trick of best actor Oscar wins for the British-born star. The ones he has to beat are Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook), Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables), Joaquin Phoenix (The Master), and Denzel Washington (Flight).

Also nominated is Naomi Watts, for her role in The Impossible with a nod in the best actress category. Her fellow nominees are Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), Emmanuelle Riva (Amour) and Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild).

The American presidential drama Lincoln led the Oscar pack with 12 nominations, including one for best picture in the race for the world's top film honours. Lincoln is now 8-15 favourite with bookmakers to be crowned Best Picture.

A best picture win for Lincoln would be Steven Spielberg's second, while another directing win would be his third, a feat achieved only by Frank Capra and William Wyler, who each earned three directing Oscars, and John Ford, who received four.

Joining Lincoln in the competition for the best movie Oscar were eight films, including Life of Pi (which has 11 nominations in total), the musical Les Miserables, Ben Affleck's Iran hostage drama Argo, the French drama Amour, Zero Dark Thirty, a thriller about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, comedy Silver Linings Playbook, Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, and indie film Beasts of the Southern Wild.

Adele (below) has been nominated for an Oscar for her Bond theme Skyfall. The last Bond song to be nominated for 'Best Song' was 'For Your Eyes Only' in 1982.

Anne Hathaway's performance in Les Miserables won her a widely-predicted nomination for supporting actress along with Amy Adams for The Master, Lincoln star Sally Field, Helen Hunt for The Sessions and - a surprise inclusion - Jacki Weaver for Silver Linings Playbook.

Today's announcement, by Seth MacFarlane and The Amazing Spider-Man star Emma Stone, means disappointment for Dame Judi Dench and Dame Helen Mirren, who missed out despite being tipped for possible nominations for their respective performances in Skyfall and Hitchcock. Family Guy creator MacFarlane is the Oscar host. He got his own nod for writing the lyrics to "Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from his movie Ted.

"That's kind of cool I got nominated," MacFarlane deadpanned. "I get to go to the Oscars."

Watts said she was "truly honoured" that her portrayal of Tsunami survivor Maria Belon had been recognised. She said: "I am so thrilled and humbled with this morning's wonderful news. The journey of telling Maria Belon's miraculous story of survival has been an incredible experience and I am so grateful for this acknowledgement of our film."

Quvenzhane Wallis, nine, became the youngest ever best actress Oscar nominee for her performance in the end of the world movie Beasts of the Southern Wild, which also garnered a nomination for its first time director Benh Zeitlin. French acting great Emmanuelle Riva (below) is the oldest nominee ever in the Best Actresss category at 85.

There were surprising omissions in the directing category, with three favourites missing out: Ben Affleck for Argo and past Oscar winners Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty and Tom Hooper for Les Miserables. Bigelow was the first woman ever to win the directing Oscar in 2010 for The Hurt Locker, while Hooper won a year later for The King's Speech.

Winners for the 85th Oscars will be announced on Sunday 24th February at a ceremony from Hollywood's Dolby Theatre.